University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Michigan State
Players Mentioned
Gophers Drop Tough Match in East Lansing
2/20/2021 3:38:00 PM | Men's Tennis
The loss will move Minnesota to 0-1 on the season.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The University of Minnesota men's tennis team dropped a tight contest against Michigan State on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 4-3.
The match marked the first B1G competition for the Gophers since last March, when the Gophers defeated Wisconsin in a 5-2 victory, which earned Head Coach Geoff Young's 200th career victory.
The season-opening loss will move the Gophers' record to 0-1, while the Spartans notch their first win of the season to push their record to 1-2.
Doubles Competition
The Spartans kicked off doubles play in a big way on Saturday afternoon, with the pairing of Drew Keene and Reed Crocker knocking off Jackson Allen and Sebastian Vile by a score of 6-3. The Gophers responded nicely with a big win from Vlad Lobak and Siim Troost, as they won 6-4 over Kazuki Matsuno and Nick Williams. With both teams splitting the first two matches, the doubles point was in the hands of Bodin Zarkovic and Daniel Martin, but unfortunately they were not able to get done as they lost a close match to Jarreau Campbell and Graydon Lair by a score of 7-6.
Singles Competition
After giving up the doubles point to the Spartans, Minnesota started singles play off strong with a pair of quick wins from Jackson Allen and Sebastian Vile. Both players won in straight sets, with Allen winning 6-2, 6-2, and Vile winning 6-4, 6-2.
Michigan State took the next two singles points as Siim Troost and Bodin Zarkovic both fell in hard-fought contests, but Vlad Lobak got the Maroon & Gold back on track with a 7-6, 7-6 victory over Anthony Pero to knot the match up at three.
That meant that Saturday's action would be decided by Dylan Heap and opponent Nick Williams, and after splitting the first two sets, Heap would drop the tie breaking point in the third set to give Michigan State the match victory.
Notable:
With today's individual match victory, Jackson Allen will go undefeated in singles play against Michigan State in his career with a record of 3-0. He defeated current Michigan State senior John Carlin in back-to-back meetings in 2018 and 2019 before defeating Josh Mukherjee on Saturday afternoon.
Quotable:
"The team competed hard today, but unfortunately for us it wasn't enough," head coach Geoff Young said. "We see where we are at now, and it's time to get back to work."
What's Next?
The Gophers travel to Ann Arbor on Sunday afternoon to play against the Michigan Wolverines, before traveling back home to start a three-game homestand at Baseline Tennis Center.